Submit Community Revitalization Projects for UNC Graduate Students

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The School of Government is inviting interested parties to submit community revitalization projects for free analysis by students.

Graduate students enrolled in the Community Revitalization course and working with the School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative (DFI) are current professional degree students in business (MBA), planning (MCRP), and public administration (MPA), among others. Under the supervision of faculty and staff, students conduct market research, feasibility analysis, and financial modeling to help communities understand how they can attract private investment into community revitalization projects across North Carolina. Students work in multi-disciplinary teams over the course of a semester at no charge for local governments.

Are you aware of any pressing community revitalization needs in your area? Submit your idea by August 7, 2023.

The projects to be performed by student teams are selected by students themselves, so please provide details that will make your project appealing. Keep in mind that students will analyze the project for private uses (e.g. retail, office, or residential) so projects that are intended for public uses (e.g. town offices, community centers) are not good fits for a class project. The best projects tend to be historic buildings located in a downtown or other significant community locations. The local government or a civic-oriented nonprofit must own the property or have a clear path to obtaining site control (e.g., owner intends to sell or donate the property to the local government).

In addition to providing project details and context, please provide the name of a local government staff member to serve as liaison to the students who is accessible, enthusiastic, and in a position to help the assigned student team secure the information that is required for the analysis, such as land use and planning documents, building inspection records, and interviews with key stakeholders. Importantly, the liaison must assist students with obtaining comprehensive tax parcel data and GIS shapefiles prior to the start of the semester in order to be considered.

We accept project submissions on a rolling basis but in order to be considered for a particular semester, we ask for submissions by the first Monday in December for the spring semester and by the first Monday in August for the fall semester. Students vote on which projects they would like to work on each semester. If your community’s project is not selected it may be considered again in future semesters.

To apply for a student project to be performed in your community, fill out and submit the form. If you have questions, contact Marcia Perritt at mperritt@sog.unc.edu.